An Edolas Gift
by BelWriter
Summary: Lucy lands herself into being the caretaker of BOTH Cobra and Midnight for few years. Also, somewhere along the lines she became a Crime Sorcière member… and how did the six end up in Edolas?
1. Chapter 1

An Edolas Gift

Summary: Lucy lands herself into being the caretaker of BOTH Cobra and Midnight for few years. Also, somewhere along the lines she became a Crime Sorcière member… and how did the six end up in Edolas?

NOTICE: I think Mages who can use teleportation magic would be at most use in the Mail-Delivery type jobs… Thank about it, you'd get paid to use your magic to send a few items to a local Post Office near the person receiving the item and form there you're done… Easy job, yes? Also, I already have a couple of light pairings in this story!

NOTICE 2: This chapter has a bucket-load of talking in it!

NOTICE 3: I'm not a huge fan of this story, but it's one that's been replaying itself in my head. So, I wrote it down and figured that maybe someone out there might enjoy this story more than me… Damn, not I have too many unfinished stories up at once! I need to fix that!

NOTICE 4: I've gone back a fixed a few errors in this! Yay! Thanks to the person who PM'd me about my mistakes and encouraged me to find them out!

**Jellal: You mean this type of talking?**

**Me: No you moron! You don't come in till later chapters! Leave!**

**Jellal: … the rest of Crime Sorciere is here already…**

**Ultear: You mean to tell us we arrived too early?!**

**Me: No, you're just in time to watch Midnight and Lucy and Cobra and… and… I can't… remember now…**

**Lahar: … Idiot, I'm not arresting anyone for messing with your memory.**

**Me: Alright! Lahar and Doranbolt, sitting in a tree~**

**Lahar: ACK! I'm not with that idiot!**

**Me: *pouts* Onward with the story! … If I can even remember what the heck I was writing about…**

**Jellal: Writing? What do you mean?**

**Me: *stuffs everyone into the back room and lets Meredy and Ultear head back to where ever they were before Jellal brought them to the story* Bye!**

Chapter 1

Sighing, Lucy glanced back at the letter given to her from the Magic Counsel and grumbled under her breath while reciting what the letter had said in her head and sank deeper into her bathtub while the water was still warm.

_**Miss Heartfilia,**_

_**I understand the strangeness and the suddenness of this request, but we would like for you to be the caretaker of two of the prisoners here in the Counsel for two or three years. I cannot disclose who it will be at this time, but if you accept then you will be doing everyone in Fiore a huge favor. Please consider accepting this request. If you accept, please send this letter back to the return address at your earliest convenience and we'll deliver the two to you. Also, it may be wise to leave your guild for the duration of time that the two prisoners will be under your care.**_

_**Signed, Lahar**_

Grumbling to herself, Lucy shook her head and thought carefully of her options. She wasn't one of the strongest mages in her guild, yes she knew that, but that didn't mean she never put in her full effort on something. Lucy could easily pull three times her weight when everything boiled down to it, but that was with a celestials help. What could she do that someone else couldn't that made the Magic Counsel feel like dumping two of the many 'dangerous' prisoners onto her?

She felt with Natsu all the time and helped keep his destruction to a minimal, sure. Lucy also put up with Gray, his stripping habits, and his fights with Natsu, yeah. Lucy also put up with Erza's anger and her 'training' and what not, sure. She could stand Laxus and forgave him and the Thunder God Tribe after their dangerous stunt, sure. But just what it that Lucy of all people had that another person didn't?

Sighing yet again, Lucy got out of the tub and drained the water and quickly wrapped a towel around herself in case her friends decided to barge into her home and make themselves comfy. It was mostly because of her friends, all of which were apart of Team Natsu, that Lucy couldn't walk from her bathroom to her bedroom while naked anymore, even thought the distance wasn't that great.

Making sure the towel wouldn't slip, Lucy dried off her hands and grabbed the letter that sat on the edge of her sink and made her way back to her room where she grabbed a simple light blue night dress and put it on and summoned forth one of her many celestial friends; Virgo.

"Punishment, Princess?" Virgo asked with a slight tilt of her head and bowed slightly when Lucy shook her head no.

"Nope, can you run an errand for me?" Lucy asked, raising her brow slightly, "I fear I'm never going to get around to doing this particular one if I don't have someone else do it." Lucy held up the letter she had gotten, which she had placed back in the envelop and taped it shut, "Can you deliver this to the post office? I know your contract says you're relived of duty at eleven, but could you do this for me?"

"Of course, Princess!" Vrigo smiled softly, "I don't mind if I'm doing something for you and it's past eleven; We spirits are to loyally serve our master."

"Ugh!" Lucy pointed, "Virgo! All of you are my friends! I don't like seeing our relationship as master-servant! You celestial spirits have thoughts and feelings of your own!" Lucy huffed and turned away, "even the two perverted ones… Loke and Taurus."

Virgo let out a soft laugh at this and nodded, "And that is why we all love you, Princess." Virgo bowed, "I shall deliver the letter to the post office; Return address?"

"Yes, thank you." Lucy smiled softly as Virgo took the letter and 'poofed' out of the room, leaving behind only a few small particles of lightly glowing dust behind. Star dust. Sighing, Lucy glanced over at her bed and smirked, what ever was going to happen, was going to make things interesting from now on.

Tucking herself into bed after turning off the lights, Lucy had only one thought as she drifted off into sleep. _Master will understand; How the heck do I tell my team that I'm leaving the guild to take care of two people the Magic Counsel want me to look out for?!_

When Lucy awoke, it wasn't to the warmth of Natsu's death-bringing sleep embrace, nor was it to Erza's commands of not fighting (which always had an 'Aye!' from Gray and Natsu following afterwards) and it wasn't to a drunk Freed (which happened only once, and Freed very quickly apologized for somehow ending up in Lucy's house and on her couch with out a shirt on). But instead, Lucy woke up to a sound she was much more unfamiliar with ever since she moved to Magnolia. Knocking.

_What the heck…? Who on earth would be here at this hour of the morning?_ Lucy mentally screamed to herself as she glanced at the clock that only read 3:25 AM. _Ah, what the heck. At least the person knocking has manners… unlike a certain Fire Dragon-Slayer… _Lucy snorted slightly at the thought and made sure her night dress was properly in place and walked straight to the door and opened it, only to be greeted with the sight of four people. Lahar, Doranbolt, Midnight and Cobra.

"Good morning miss Heartfilia, will you allow us inside?" Lahar asked politely with a slight nod in the beginning, "I think we'll want to talk inside and not out here."

"Oh…" Lucy blinked, wondering what the heck was going on, and nodded, moving so that the four people could come inside her house and sit on the sofa. Once Lucy shut the door, and used one of the chain locks instead of the key lock, Lucy joined the four, who were all staring at her, Cobra was the only one who had a smirk on his face. Midnight had already fallen asleep and Lahar and Doranbolt looked like they were in deep thought.

_Okay… two Rune knights and two people who have tried to kill me before… did something… _Lucy's eyes widen as she realized what she asked Virgo to do last night, _Oh yeah… the letter… _

At this, Cobra couldn't help but laugh. "You forgot during the night, huh Blondie?"

"Just because I'm a Blondie doesn't mean it's my name!" Lucy huffed and mumbled something incoherent to everyone but the Poison Dragon-Slayer, to which he made scowl and looked away.

"Sheesh, one would think you'd be a little more chipper in the morning."

"It's too early in the morning to deal with this…" Lucy sighed, "But I did agree to this, so at least spare me a migraine later, please." Lucy shook her head and glanced at Lahar, who was watching Lucy and Cobra interact.

"Just don't wake me up." Midnight grumbled and went back to sleeping.

"Miss Heartfilia, the Magic Counsel thanks you for accepting to the rather strange request for the next few years. If any problems ever arise, please do contact the Magic Counsel and we'll aid you in the best way we can." Lahar bowed his head again as one of Lucy's celestial spirits decided to visit.

"Princess," The celestial spirits purred into Lucy's ear and in that same second the spirit was on the floor with a light-pink hand print on his face.

"Loke, I just said it's too early for any of the normal annoying." Lucy turned her head to glanced behind the couch where her Lion Spirit sat rubbing his cheek.

"I know, Princess." Loke sighed, "I just thought I'd warn you that if you want to tell master you're leaving the guild you might want to do it now. He's leaving for a meeting with the other Guild Masters in about three house." Loke stood up and walked to kitchen and grabbed a small pack of ice cubes and placed them in a plastic bag that he help to his face. "Princess, that slap hurt!"

"Then don't do that again this early!" Lucy huffed and glanced at Cobra, then Midnight and then at Lahar and Doranbolt and frowned. "You'll have to excuse me for about an hour. I'm going to go catch master before he leaves." Doranbolt nodded at this and told Lucy that they'd stay until she came back to make sure her two 'guests' would behave until she came back.

Thanking the two, Lucy quickly ran to her room and changed into clothing that would much more fit going outside in and then bolted out of her house, leaving a confused Cobra and a blinking Midnight behind.

"… I think she's just not wanting to be around us…" Midnight mumbled loud enough for Lahar and Dornabolt to hear, "She's clearly scared to be near us and it's all reasonable… Oi, either of you two, mind making breakfast?"

"This isn't our place, so we won't." Lahar quickly responded, folding this arms over his chest and closed his eyes. "I can already see that Fairy Tail is going to react negatively to the news…"

"Yeah, well," Dornabolt sighed and looked between his partner, Midnight and Cobra, "Fairy Tail isn't know for reacting well to negative news. In fact, It'll be miracle in my books if they don't destroy some part of the building." Dornabolt laughed to himself and then shook his head, "experience."

In fact, once Lucy managed to tell her master that she wanted to quite the guild and told him why, everything went down hill.

"Just remember child, Fairy Tail is always a home for you." Makarov gave a sad smile to Lucy and nodded and he removed the pink Fairy Tail off of her hand, "Just how do you plan to tell your Team?"

"For Natsu's sake? Bluntly… maybe even with Gray's Ice-Make Hammer… or something…" Lucy gave a small laugh before shaking her head, "In all seriousness; bluntly is the only way to go…" Makarov nodded along to this and frowned.

"Just be careful child."

"I will, Don't worry!" Lucy gave the man she looked up to like a fatherly figure a smile that could match one of Natsu's toothy grins (which is a very scary thought according to Gray when asked once upon a time by a Matchmaking Mirajane). "Besides, I'm never truly alone."

Nodding to this, Makarov shooed Lucy out of his office and at that very moment Natsu came up to her and dragged her down to the first floor and to the mission board.

"You're turn to pick the mission Luce!" Natsu smiled, "Me, you, Erza and Stripper are here, so it's a full group!"

"Um about that…" Lucy sadly smiled ant turned to her friend; the very reason she was in Fairy Tail at all. "I'm… sorry, can we get the team here?" Lucy sighed and sat down on a stool and put her head against the table. _Here goes nothing… _

"Oi! Erza! Stripper! Luce wants to say something!" Natsu didn't bother being discrete about anything, which is what Lucy was expecting. What she wasn't expecting was for the WHOLE GUILD to get quiet.

"Yea?" Gray asked, ignoring Natsu as he sat down next to Lucy which got a weak comment on clothing. Confused, Gray looked down and freaked. "Again?!"

"What is it Lucy?" Erza walked over with a sword swung loosely over her shoulder, making Lucy visibly gulp and shiver.

"Um.. Well, I'm Sorry!" Lucy sat upright and bowed her head, "But I'm leaving Fairy Tail."

"… WHAT?! LUCE'S LEAVING THE GUILD?!" Natsu had the worse reaction from everyone else, and the loud shout echoed throughout the guild and maybe the entirety of Magnolia.

"Why?!" Gray piped up, shook written on his face, "Is it because me and Flame-Brain are always getting into a fight?"

"Is it due to my slight anger problem?" Erza raised a brow, making everyone in the guild sweat drop. 'Slight' was a huge understatement, even bigger when someone got between Erza and her cake.

"No guys, that's not it." Lucy sighed, "It's… something's come up and I want some time from the guild. I'll come back, okay?" Lucy tried to give the group a big smile, but it came out forced.

"Luce…" Natsu frowned, "… We won't forget ya, ya know…" Natsu looked away, "good luck with what ever it is you're going to do…"

"Yeah, we'll always be there for you, so don't let Sulfur-Breath make you think it's only him who cares." Gray laughed and Natsu instantly got into a fight with the Ice mage.

"What was that, Ice Princess?"

"I said what I meant, Flame-Brain!"

"We're all Nakama, so don't go trying to sound high-and-mighty here!" Natsu was about to unleash a Fire Dragon's Roar when Gajeel and Laxus both came both and knocked both Gray and Natsu out cold.

"Tch… too damned loud…" Laxus yawned and glanced at Lucy before nodding, "You might want to leave now if you don't want to get caught by these two again."

"Thanks guys!" Lucy tried her hardest not to laugh at her friends pain but it came out as half-snorts and giggles.

Thanking a few other people for always being there for her, and making sure a to write a note to the absent (and shockingly sick) Mirajane, Lucy waved a final goodbye to the guild and headed back to her apartment with a giddy smile on her face.

_Since I'm not tied to a guild now… I wonder if I can convince Cobra and Midnight to travel around with me… I mean, it might even be safer than staying one place… _

Once Lucy arrived at her place, she didn't even get to open the door as Midnight beat her to it with a scowl on his face. "Mind making breakfast? I'm starving. Prison food, in general, sucks."

Blinking at the sudden outburst by Midnight, Lucy laughed and nodded, "Sure, but get out of the doorway so I can, or else we're all not having breakfast."

"Fine, fine! Just don't take too long. Lahar's stomach growled and so has mine." Midnight huffed and closed the door after Lucy entered the house and went back to the living room with a slight pout.

"What's wrong? Lucy got your tongue already?" Doranbolt joked as Midnight glared at the man.

"No, she threatened to not make breakfast for us if I didn't move out of the way so she could enter the house." Midnight grumbled and laid down on the couch,effectively kicking Cobra from his seat and onto the floor.

Lucy came out the Kitchen just long enough to ask Lahar and Doranbolt to stay for breakfast and then vanished back into the kitchen, where Cobra commented that she was making pancakes, eggs, and sausage.

_How… Oh yeah, Dragon Slayer. Enhanced smelling…_ Lucy shook her head with a slight grin on her face that was replaced a scowl when Cobra commented from the living room.

"I can hear you Lu!"

_Shut up or I'll… crap, Your the Poison Dragon Slayer, I don't think poisons would work on you… _

Lucy heard laughter coming from the Living room and she quickly left the room with a skillet and pouted, "It's not funny!"

"You thinking about using poisons on me is! I'd just thank ya for the second meal!" Cobra couldn't help laugh again at the thought of her sticking something pointed and red-hot up a certain hole that Lucy threatened him with.

"Uh…" Dornabolt blinked, "What the heck is going on?" Instead of getting an answer from Lucy or Cobra, he got his answer from a half-awake Midnight.

"Lucy thought of something amusing to the snake. I'm guessing sticking something sharp and hot up his end was the thought. Previously is was something along the lines of 'shut up or I'm poisoning your food so you get food poisoning' … or something like that." Midnight yawned and closed his eyes, completely fine with every set of eyes that were in the room staring at him.

_That was the longest thing I think Midnight ever said freely… _Lucy blinked and Cobra was about to agree to that thought when the smell of burning eggs caught the noses of all awake people.

"The eggs!" Lucy screeched, making Midnight jump and Cobra flinch, and ran back into the kitchen to salvage what was edible of the eggs and then brought out a small moving cart and gave a sheepish chuckle. "Natsu broke my table a few days ago so the dining room is bare of anything to eat on… unless you want to sit on the floor." Lucy handed a plate of food to Lahar, Dornabolt and Cobra before forcing Midnight to sit upright and handing a plate to him. Lucy didn't even get to tell anyone to enjoy the food before Cobra began chowing down on his food much like Natsu does when hungry beyond reason.

The other three however, were eating much more gracefully than Cobra and that made Lucy sigh. "At least some people here know how to eat without causing a mess." Lucy mumbled under her breath and Cobra ignored her. Grabbing her own plate of food and sitting down next to Midnight, Lucy contemplated on asking or just doing and dragging the two she would have to care for along with her.

"Mnnf?" Cobra asked with his mouth full and before anyone could ask what the the man had meant, Midnight cut in.

"Translation: What?"

"No one said anything…" Lahar glanced at everyone in the room and then at Lucy when Cobra's gaze landed on her.

"Ugh… How did I already forget that you could hear my thoughts…" Lucy sighed, "Oh well, better sooner than never." Lucy placed the fork and knife on her plate and glanced at Midnight, then Cobra, then at the two Rune Knights who were still at her place. "Since I'm not tied to a guild at the moment, I was thinking about traveling around and seeing other placed in Earthland."

Midnight blinked and knew where this conversation was going, "I know where this is going, You want us to travel around with you?"

"Well, that I think it's somewhat safer than keeping you two in the same town, with Dark Guilds still wanting the both of you. Besides, you think they'd try to find you if they found that one moment your in Minstrel and then in Sin?"

"How will you even be getting there?" Lahar asked, a look of skepticism on his face.

"I don't know about these two," Lucy pointed to Cobra and Midnight, "But I'm fine with traveling. I'll just have to cross lots of mountains. Fiore into Seven for a short side-trip and then into Bosco, then into Stella and Into Joya… And that's taking motion sickness dude into consideration." Lucy sighed, "I'd like to see Cealum, but it's an Island surrounded by sea."

"Thanks for that, Blondie."

"THE NAME'S LUCY!" Lucy huffed, "either don't call me by a name, or call me Lucy. So help me, I'll Lucy-Kick you out of the country."

"Then I'd be free of having a guardian." Cobra's voice was one of indifference, and Lahar made a cough-like noise to get the attention of everyone.

"I think Lucy's right. Going out and seeing the world might even be a good experience for you three. When do you plan to leave, miss Heartfilia?"

"I'd like to leave later today!" Lucy grinned, "But I'm also a kind person. Maybe tomorrow?"

"How does that chance anything?" Midnight asked, a bored look on his face.

"It means Cobra doesn't have to get on a train in a hour." Lucy smiled and Cobra's face dropped it's expression.

"Can we take the ride on Cubellios?" Cobra's voice held slight worry, "I hate being on trains."

"If you can find that mutated thing, I'd be amazed." Doranbolt mumbled out loud, which earned him four glares.

"She's not a mutated thing! She's one of my only friends!" Cobra hissed out at Doranbolt, who very quickly covered his mouth.

"If you can find her, then sure. I'm confident that Midnight doesn't sleepwalk long distances." Lucy laughed and then laughed harder when Lahar smacked the back of Doranbolt's head calling him a moron.

"She'll come… just watch, I'll call her!" Cobra huffed as he sat back down and closed his eyes. Almost instantly, an eerie purple glow began to emanate from the man, and suffocated the air in the house, making it hard for everyone but Midnight to breath. Sighing, Midnight dug around in his pocket and pulled out a small light red pill and handed to Lucy telling her that it'll help her breathe in the non-lethal poisonous air. After taking the pill from careful consideration, Lucy felt her body get lighter and her breathing evened out. Midnight on the other hand, vanished into one of Lucy's guest rooms that was special ordered for when Natsu or Erza decided to hand over for the night.

"She's outside." Cobra's voice held confidence as the glow settled down and vanished from his body. "Window, your room Lu."

Blinking, Lucy nodded and walked over to her room to indeed see a small purple snake with wings on it's back. Smiling softly, Lucy opened the window and let Cubellios crawl her way up Lucy's arm and curl lightly around the girls neck before she shut the door and locked it. Making her way back to the group of people in her house, Lucy pointed at her neck where she now had a live snake happily sleeping.

"… She's never really done that before… Sure she can shrink and increase her size, but she's never taken a liking to people before." Cobra frowned and wondered lightly if his snake was betraying trust and loyalty by picking someone else to take a nap on, but shook it off and figured that as long as Cubellios didn't attack him for leaving her and trying not to find her that they were on good terms.

"Um… As much as I don't mind you having Cubellios as a pet, c-can you please get her off o-of me…?" Lucy's voice wavered and she finished the rest in as her thoughts. _I really get claustrophobic when reptiles decide that I make a great bed… even more so when they touch my bare skin._

Cobra couldn't help but laugh at this, and then noticed that Lahar and Doranbolt had vanished leaving behind only a small note and a communications Lacrima.

Picking up the note, Cobra read it out loud.

_**Please understand that we did not wish to seem rude, but we've received a call saying an urgent job has come forth for us to deal with. If you do travel, use the Communication Lacrima to keep in contact with the Magic Counsel. We're getting travel papers ready for Cobra and Midnight, but for obvious reasons we'll have to use their real names, Erik and Macbeth.**_

Cobra's nose twitched at the mention of his name and frowned. "Just so long as I keep getting called Cobra…"

"Will do!" Lucy smiled and then stared off into space, not even thinking a thing until,

_Oh yeah!_ "Passports for the two of you! Why didn't I think of that!"

Cobra groaned, knowing full well that being under protective custody of Lucy was going to be a much harder task than he could ever imagine for himself. Especially if it meant having to deal with always moving around, but he was used to that. At least he'd have Midnight to keep himself company if Lucy ever decided to become a complaining machine.

Worse part of this all? It was only 5: 23 AM of the first day and the man could feel a migraine coming forth. At least Midnight was asleep and his beloved pet/friend came back to him.

- Chapter 1; End! -

**Me: See, was that so bad?**

**Cobra: … Being stuck in a locked room with five other guys, two of which are gay, or being forced to take part in this story?**

**Jellal: Five? *Counts out* Me, you, Midnight, Natsu… Four. *retracts thought projection***

**Cobra: … Huh? *looks around* You and that thought projection… I forgot about that… **

**Me: AHH! I FORGOT SOMETHING! I DON'T OWN FAIRY TAIL! FAIRY TAIL BELONGS TO HIRO MASHIMA … **

**Cobra: *Strangles me* No yelling in my ear!**

**Me: Su-sure! D-dragon… Sla-yer… *passes out***

**Midnight: .. I'm not writing the next chapter…**

**Cobra: … well, shit...**


	2. Chapter 2

NOTICE: I made a few grammatical / spelling errors in chapter 1 (and maybe this one too), so when I get around to it, I'll fix those up and all that stuff… My Beta Reader is out of town for the next 'few' weeks… I have no idea how long 'few' really is. **Also, my line breaks don't seem to work anymore… so, Im sorry if scenes jump places!**

NOTICE 2: I'll be dammed… People already asked me to update… and i'm not even confident in this story… My next update won't be as soon as this one came. Work and overseas travels will keep from the internet. Sorry. I'm always traveling and stuff (which is where I got the idea of having Lucy, Cobra and Midnight travel around Earthland).

Chapter 2

After a few moments of awkward silence, Cobra spoke up. "Why now of all times to travel around Earthland?" Lucy stared at Cobra a few moments before nodding and sighing.

"If I went with Team Natsu, since they would want to come along with me, then I'd have to keep everyone on a super tight leash, which is impossible with the group, so that we don't tick of any foreign rulers by destroying places in an accidental fight between Gray and Natsu. Besides, I'm fairly sure that Magic is forbidden in a few places." Lucy shrugged, "I feel that you and Midnight can be responsible young men and not destroy everything."

"Or what?" Cobra raised a brow, knowing that there was always a 'so help me if you do' at the end of a confession when it involves violence.

"Or I can send you back to the Magic Counsel." Lucy huffed and walked into her room to avoid having to deal with anything more of Cobra and his questions. Cobra, not minding the want to avoid him, grinned and walked to the guest room that Midnight had claimed by passing out onto the bed.

"… You're lucky, Macbeth…" Cobra frowned as he sat down on the edge of the bed and idly ran his hand through Midnight's black hair, which was softer then most would suspect with only a once-a-week bath from the prison guards. "You almost didn't get to come along…"

"hmm… I know, that was a bold lie you made up. Now, shut up. And if you're going to sleep; do so." Midnight grumbled, upset that he had to wake up. Instead of doing anything about the hand that woke him woke, Midnight turned over to face Cobra's back and closed his eyes again.

"…Maybe…" Cobra sighed and thought back to when he had gotten the counsel to let both him and Midnight walk around in the sun with only a single guardian. "But it wasn't a full lie…" Cobra then whispered just soft enough that he, himself, almost didn't hear himself say anything.

_"come along Erik." Lahar had opened the cell that Cobra was sitting in and grabbed the man by the magic-sealing cuffs that had been placed on the poison-dragon slayer and dragged him out of the cell. "The counsel has decided that since you've been behaving while here in the prison, you'll be granted a chance to redeem yourself."_

_"Pardon?" Cobra raised a brow as he watched Lahar's face twist slightly as they began to pass the cell that Midnight was in. Glancing at Midnight, it was clear to see that the man was both jealous and bored. Cobra only winked in response to this sight, which made Midnight raise a brow._

_"What is means, is you're time in a cell is over. You're going to behave for whoever the counsel decides will take care of you, or you're join back a cell and won't leave until you're dead." Lahar grumbled and stumbled a bit the moment Cobra stopped moving and pulled back slightly. _

_"I'm staying here unless you allow Midnight to leave with me. It's either both of us or not." Cobra mentally gulped and silently prayed, as if praying would make his past sins go away, that this plan of his would work. _

_"I don't think that is an option for Macbeth at the moment." Lahar frowned, "but I will ask. He also has been behaving while here." Lahar shook his head, "Why do care?"_

_" Is there something wrong with stick with my mate?" Cobra tiled his head, "We dragon slayers get very protective of our mates and we tend to go insane if they aren't with us or are in danger." _

_"I didn't see any mate mark on Macbeth when he had him change into the prison garb." Lahar laughed, "so don't lie."_

_"That's because I haven't claimed him. But my mark IS there." Cobra glanced over at Midnight and saw the confusion and slight blush on the mans face. "I'm sure we can keep each other in check. Staying here in a cold and foul-smelling cell isn't exactly what i'd call sane." _

_"And the two you are sane?" Lahar asked rhetorically with a sigh, "as said; i'll ask. Now, just come along with me." _

Cobra sighed again and glanced back at Midnight, who had buried his nose into Cobra's thigh, and let a small smile grace his lips. The counsel had, indeed, granted Midnight to leave alongside Cobra, but gave them harsher restrictions. They were to not use their magic without good reason and that reason is self-defense. They were to listen to anything their 'caretaker' said and follow any orders given to them. They were to not leave their caretakers side… Cobra could go indefinitely about all the limits given to him and Midnight before the letter the counsel sent came back- which was a positive thing for both men.

Grinning, Cobra leaned over and moved cloth that covered Midnight right shoulder blade and watched as the faint purple dragon mark became exposed and lightly kissed it. His mark. Cobra's mating mark.

Sure, Cobra was a bit hesitant and reluctant to have his love-er, mate be another male, but that didn't mean much if Midnight was so open to acting like his mate back in the prison… but Cobra felt that it was only so Midnight could get out a cell and Midnight's words confirmed his fear. Midnight felt that it nothing but a lie. A rouse to help an old friend.

Sighing again, Cobra moved midnight over a bit and laid down next to the man and embraced him, an instinct that was ingrained in him after the Dragon Lacrima was implanted into him. Dragon instinct maybe? Having the urge to protect one's mate? Yep, most definitely an instinct from the implanted Lacrima.

Forcing himself to stop thinking, Cobra closed his eyes and drifted off to a light sleep while listening to the steady and calming beating of Midnight's heart.

When Lucy managed to place her book down, she grumbled to herself. Sure, Levy had said that the magic could be used by anymore, and the book did in fact say that just about could use the magic if they focused, but Lucy couldn't even figure out how to call her pen, which she enchanted and made sure to the right spell.

"Easy my ass…" Lucy huffed and she struggled with the most basic of item-calling spells that were in the book Levy had given her a few months back as a gift for long trips when little storage space was available. Huffing, Lucy went back to trying to practice the spell, and tried again when she left the room, thinking that maybe the spell wouldn't work if the item was in sight.

_Item which I seek, _Lucy closed her eyes and focused on the metal picture of the pen in the other room, _I call thee forth, now come!_ Lucy opened her eyes as a small golden magic circle floated in the air and a few moments later the pen which Lucy wanted fell to ground from the fading circle.

Blinking, Lucy grinned and nodded her head. Summoning a pen didn't drain her magic much, and she would know as she was well in tune to her own magic, but what about a bigger object? Nodding her head, Lucy decided to get her curiosity sedated and walked back to her room and grabbed a soccer ball from her room and enchanted it using the spell she found in her book. Then, she left the room and repeated the process and got the same result, with a slight dizzying feeling.

Happy with the result, Lucy undid the enchantment on the soccer ball and went back to the book to figure out if the dizzying feeling she just had and found a page that made her glad she decided to look up the dizzying feeling instead of ignoring the small feeling.

**If used to much in succession with too little practice, the caster may come to a state of magical-fatigue known as mock-drain. Mock-drain is not fatal if taken care of, but any use of magic while in the state of Mock-drain is dangerous as magical balance is thrown out of whack. Best solution to cure the mock state is by resting and not using magic. **

Nodding at the simplicity of the 'cure', Lucy grabbed a medical book that was given to her by Wendy and looked up to see if Mock-Drain was a subject in the encyclopedia-sized book.

**Mock-Magic Drain: A state of magical fatigue in which the mage has to be careful of. Not as deadly as Magical-Drain, the illness in which a mages magic begins to just leave them and leave them to die, but still just as worrisome. Any magic used while in this state will be done so with difficulty and trouble.**

**Common symptoms of Self-diagnosis include bad headaches, inability to stand up right, blurriness of vision, trouble speaking, severe dizziness**

**Best cure of Mock-Magic Drain is food, drink and rest. Mock-Magic Drain can very quickly become something to worry about if not left cared for.**

Blinking at the small entry, Lucy re-read the entry and sighed. She was fine as long as she didn't push anything to far. Wanting to make sure she was indeed fine, Lucy summoned the pen she had left in the other room and hummed in content as she didn't fell the earlier dizziness. "Okay, trying to summon the ball was a bit of stretch for this." Lucy sighed in happiness as she finished reading the item-summoning book and placed an enchantment on said book so she could summon it again if she ever forgot an enchantment for a specific item shape.

Leaning back, Lucy frowned and wondered if she had made the right decision in accepting the offer that given to her. The letter said 'a few years' but what would happen after that? Would Cobra and Midnight go back to the counsel and remain there? Would they be free to go on where they want?

Shaking her head, Lucy tried to force the negative thoughts of worry from her head and grabbed a map of Earthland and opened it, already planning a course to travel.

First, the group would travel into Seven and then into Bosco by using the cave pass that was open to travelers who didn't want to cross into the winter mountains, which were much safer than the caves, but with a much grater risk of getting lost. Then. after the trip in Bosco was done, they'd travel the plains into the river lands of Stella where Lucy would have to lay down the law of no using magic, and then across the mountains into Joya where she would reunite with an old friend for a while. Then, depending on Midnight and Cobra, the two could either travel into Minstrel and see what Midi looked like, or they could bypass that and visit the hot, sandy country of Desierto and the Bellum. Then, depending on how Midnight and Cobra were, maybe they could try to visit the laid-back country of Sin where they could use magic again, but that meant going into the Pergrande Kingdom from the country of Icebreg and that was where Lucy was pushing her high limits on temperature and good relations with Fiore.

Sighing, Lucy thought about the plan. Very basic. Have a main course to go and enjoy the side things that happen along the path. Seemed like a grand plan to her, but she'd still have to run everything through with her two 'charges'. It was at that moment Lucy's eyes widened.

With Team Natsu, Lucy never got the chance to think things through because Natsu would always rush into things with Gray charging after him. Erza then would change in after the two to make sure they didn't fight amounts each other, and Lucy would end up either having to run her hardest to keep up with the three or she'd get dragged by Erza. Out of everything however, she track record did improve. She could keep up with almost everyone else in the 24-hour endurance race because of Team Natsu's barging into everything and Natsu's extreme like to rushing into everything. Well, mostly everyone. She could never keep up with Jet. Then again, no one could keep up with Jet and his extreme speed magic. Maybe that type of magic should be against rules like Aera in the race… At least she never had to face the punishment at the end of the race.

Smiling, Lucy figured that she'd miss the guild- she already did miss the normal antics of the pea fully chaotic guild- but she'd learn to cope… hopefully.

Nodding to herself, Lucy began to hum a tune she recalled form her childhood and cleaned up bits and pieces of her apartment and told the landlady that she'd be gone for quite sometime, and that she wasn't sure she'd be able to pay off the rent durning that time, to which the landlady just resounded with a warm smile, 'It's only rent if your here. I'll make sure no one takes the house while you're gone.'

Lucy could have cried that moment due to the warm thought and care the landlady gave her. Thanking the woman, Lucy left a note on the living room table saying that she was out to clear her mind and that the kitchen was more than welcomed to be raided by the two and the Bathrooms towels were in closet in- no duh, the bathroom- and left to find something to do to fill in the time.

When Cobra woke up, it wasn't to sight he was expecting. He figured, Midnight being Midnight, would be asleep and he'd be able to cuddle with the man before getting up to talk to Lucy, but was greeted with the sight of Midnight's red eyes staring into Cobra's black eyes.

"…You stayed…" Midnight stated as he continued to stare at Cobra, "And you talk in your sleep…"

"I do… do I?" Cobra raised a brow, "What did I say?"

"… Nothing much…" Midnight turned around, "Why'd you stay?"

"What, can I not sleep with you if you offered?" Cobra sighed, knowing that Midnight was confused and... what was that second smell?

"I guess I did…" Midnight sighed as he thought about the previous conversation the two had. "… Did you mean it, or was it a lie? I'm assuming it's a lie, but… I'd the truth…" Midnight face dropped as he mumbled softly into the pillow and then shook his head, "Forget it, I want a shower." Midnight yawned as he sat up and left the room; opening all sorts of rooms to find the bathroom.

When Midnight opened the door to Lucy's room, Midnight blinked. Her room wasn't big per say, but it was much more different than what Midnight would have expected. She even had her own table with three chairs surrounding it, and then yet another table across from that with a very small couch-like chair next to it. Lucy bed was right next to the wind and a vanity area at he head of the bed, and a bookshelf across from the bed.

Yep, much different from that Midnight was expecting. Shaking his head, Midnight figured that it'd be highly rude to stay in Lucy's room without permission and left, shutting the door behind him and began his small quest again to the bathroom.

Cobra, on the other hand, just sighed as he left the guest room and watched Midnight try to figure out the house layout. "Other end of the house" Cobra called out when Cobra somehow ended up in the cleaning closet and then in the basement, which Cobra didn't even know existed.

Grumbling, Cobra just knew this day, and the rest of the time, was going to be slow if the three couldn't get along. Thankfully, Lucy hadn't honestly threatened them yet or stuck an angry Natsu or someone on them… Speaking of which, if Fairy Tail knew that Lucy was taking care of Cobra and Midnight, why hasn't anyone crashed into Lucy house like Lucy kept thinking back to?

Just as Cobra had that thought, a loud crash came from the front door, and then voices.

"You sure Luce's going to be alright with this?" a timid female-ish voice spoke up, "she's always getting into us for not using the front door and all, but this is STILL breaking in!"

Another voice responded, this time it sounded more like a man's, "Yeah, Lucy will be fine… we're just going to get her to tell us why she wanted to leave the guild so quickly!"

Cobra growled as he smelt scents he remembered. Lucy's old Team Natsu. He jinxed himself; and in a very bad manner. Still he could try to hide, but if the dragon slayer was with them Cobra had no hopes with Midnight who was in the bathroom on the other side of the house.

Deciding to just get this over with, Cobra walked out and into the entry hallway and cut of Natsu who was saying something about how Lucy's house smelled a bit different than normal, and instantly had one ice-make lance, and one shiny steel sword pointed at him along with two dragon-slayers growling at him

"Hello, Team Natsu." Cobra's eye twitched, "Does Lu know you've decided to visit her?"


End file.
